Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin tears into House Of The Dragon

House of the Dragon’s second season drew to a close just over one month ago.

It was a slow burn of a season, but that’s not exactly a criticism. In fact, I found the season to be the perfect example of all good things coming to those who wait.

Watching the various pieces being put into place may not have always made for the most action-packed of viewing, but the time spent doing that should mean that season three takes us into the all-out war between Team Black and Team Green that we’ve been promised.

It’s been confirmed that House of the Dragon will be ending sooner than we thought, so that should also ensure a ramping up of the pace come next season.

While myself and other viewers largely found ourselves enjoying season two, source material author George R.R. Martin felt a tad underwhelmed.

As with any adaptation, House of the Dragon made a few changes to Martin’s source material, Fire and Blood, with the author now having taken to his blog to explain where, in his opinion, the TV show has gone wrong.

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Essentially, Martin was unhappy with the handling of ‘Blood and Cheese’, an event that saw Prince Jaehaerys, son of Helaena Targaryen, killed.

In the book, Helaena has three children, with Blood and Cheese forcing her to choose which of her sons, Jaehaerys or Maelor, dies - which Martin felt was the more powerful version.

In the TV show, Prince Maelor doesn’t yet exist with Martin revealing that showrunner Ryan Condal didn’t want to inflate the show’s budget by hiring a child for such a small role.

Instead, according to Martin, Condal suggested that Helaena might possibly fall pregnant in the show’s third season before then deciding to cut the character of Maelor altogether.

Martin went on to detail that he “argued against” these changes, citing the butterfly effect warning.

You see, why I’m loath to delve into spoilers, if Prince Maelor isn’t included, it marks a number of significant changes to the story further down the line.

If you don’t want to find out what happens to Prince Maelor in the book, now is the time to look away.

“It's the simplest [change], yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules,” Martin wrote in a new blog post, titled Beware the Butterflies.

“But simpler is not better … Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter.”

Martin teased that House of the Dragon, from what he’s heard, is set to include additional changes to the source material, referencing “larger and more toxic butterflies to come” in seasons three and four.

It’s all grown rather messy since the blog post was published.

In a statement, a HBO spokesperson said, “Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow.”

They continued, “We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”

George R. R. Martin has now deleted his Beware The Butterflies blog post.